Magnetic frustration in an iron based Cairo pentagonal lattice

The Fe3+ lattice in the Bi2Fe4O9 compound is found to materialize the first analogue of a magnetic pentagonal lattice. Due to its odd number of bonds per elemental brick, this lattice, subject to first neighbor antiferromagnetic interactions, is prone to geometric frustration. The Bi2Fe4O9 magnetic properties have been investigated by macroscopic magnetic measurements and neutron diffraction. The observed non-collinear magnetic arrangement is related to the one stabilized on a perfect tiling as obtained from a mean field analysis with direct space magnetic configurations calculations. The peculiarity of this structure arises from the complex connectivity of the pentagonal lattice, a novel feature compared to the well-known case of triangle-based lattices

Calibration of ac and dc magnetometers with a Dy2O3 standard

This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics.The ac susceptibility and magnetization curves of a glued Dy2O3 powder sample are measured by an ac susceptometer and a dc superconducting quantum interference device magnetometer, both of which have been calibrated previously. It is shown that the magnetic moment of the paramagnetic sample as a function of field and temperature may be accurately expressed by a combination of the Curie-Weiss law and the Langevin function at T > 45 K with three adjusting parameters, so that the dc magnetization curves and the magnitude and phase of ac susceptibility at different values of dc bias field measured by any magnetometer can be calibrated by using Dy2O3 as a standard. The expressions are empirical and cannot be justified in the entire field and temperature range by existing theories of paramagnetism. Below 10 K, indication of approaching a possible phase transition is found. It is shown that pure Dy2O3 powder may be used as a primary standard, with susceptibility [13.28(T + 17)]−1 emu/Oe/g at T > 50 K and H < 10 kOe, in consistency with the Curie-Weiss law and the quantum mechanical theory of paramagnetism

Calibration of low-temperature ac susceptometers with a copper cylinder standard

This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics.A high-quality low-temperature ac susceptometer is calibrated by comparing the measured ac susceptibility of a copper cylinder with its eddy-current ac susceptibility accurately calculated. Different from conventional calibration techniques that compare the measured results with the known property of a standard sample at certain fixed temperature T, field amplitude Hm, and frequency f, to get a magnitude correction factor, here, the electromagnetic properties of the copper cylinder are unknown and are determined during the calibration of the ac susceptometer in the entire T, Hm, and f range. It is shown that the maximum magnitude error and the maximum phase error of the susceptometer are less than 0.7% and 0.3°, respectively, in the region T = 5-300 K and f = 111-1111 Hz at Hm = 800 A/m, after a magnitude correction by a constant factor as done in a conventional calibration. However, the magnitude and phase errors can reach 2% and 4.3° at 10 000 and 11 Hz, respectively. Since the errors are reproducible, a large portion of them may be further corrected after a calibration, the procedure for which is given. Conceptual discussions concerning the error sources, comparison with other calibration methods, and applications of ac susceptibility techniques are presented

Electric field control of exchange bias in multiferroic epitaxial heterostructures

The magnetic exchange bias between epitaxial thin films of the multiferroic (antiferromagnetic and ferroelectric) hexagonal YMnO3 oxide and a soft ferromagnetic (FM) layer is used to couple the magnetic response of the ferromagnetic layer to the magnetic state of the antiferromagnetic one. We will show that biasing the ferroelectric YMnO3 layer by an appropriate electric field allows modifying and controlling the magnetic exchange bias and subsequently the magnetotransport properties of the FM layer. This finding may contribute to pave the way towards a new generation of electric-field controlled spintronics devices.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, submitte

Phonon and magnon scattering of antiferromagnetic Bi2Fe4O9

The phonon structure of antiferromagnetic Bi2Fe4O9 (space group Pbnm No. 55, TN≈240  K) was studied theoretically by calculations of lattice dynamics and experimentally between 10 and 300 K by polarized Raman spectroscopy. Most of the 12Ag+12B1g+9B2g+9B3g Raman modes were unambiguously identified. Strong second-order scattering was observed for ab-plane-confined incident and scattered light polarizations. In addition to the phonon-scattering, broad Raman bands with typical characteristics of magnon scattering appear below TN. The magnon bands are analyzed on the basis of magnetic structure of Bi2Fe4O9 and attributed to two- magnon excitations

Electric field effects on magnetotransport properties of multiferroic Py/YMnO3/Pt heterostructures

We report on the exchange bias between antiferromagnetic and ferroelectric hexagonal YMnO3 epitaxial thin films sandwiched between a metallic electrode (Pt) and a soft ferromagnetic layer (Py). Anisotropic magnetoresistance measurements are performed to monitor the presence of an exchange bias field. When the heteroestructure is biased by an electric field, it turns out that the exchange bias field is suppressed. We discuss the dependence of the observed effect on the amplitude and polarity of the electric field. Particular attention is devoted to the role of current leakage across the ferroelectric layer.Comment: Accepted for publication in Philosophical Magazine Letters (Special issue on multiferroics

Magnetization Reversal by Electric-Field Decoupling of Magnetic and Ferroelectric Domains Walls in Multiferroic-Based Heterostructures

We demonstrate that the magnetization of a ferromagnet in contact with an antiferromagnetic multiferroic (LuMnO3) can be speedily reversed by electric field pulsing, and the sign of the magnetic exchange bias can switch and recover isothermally. As LuMnO3 is not ferroelastic, our data conclusively show that this switching is not mediated by strain effects but is a unique electric-field driven decoupling of the ferroelectric and ferromagnetic domains walls. Their distinct dynamics are essential for the observed magnetic switching

Strain-driven non-collinear magnetic ordering in orthorhombic epitaxial YMnO3 thin films

We show that using epitaxial strain and chemical pressure in orthorhombic YMnO3 and Co-substituted (YMn0.95Co0.05O3) thin films, a ferromagnetic response can be gradually introduced and tuned. These results, together with the measured anisotropy of the magnetic response, indicate that the unexpected observation of ferromagnetism in orthorhombic o-RMnO3 (R= Y, Ho, Tb, etc) films originates from strain-driven breaking of the fully compensated magnetic ordering by pushing magnetic moments away from the antiferromagnetic [010] axis. We show that the resulting canting angle and the subsequent ferromagnetic response, gradually increase (up to ~ 1.2\degree) by compression of the unit cell. We will discuss the relevance of these findings, in connection to the magnetoelectric response of orthorhombic manganites.Comment: Text + Figs Accepted in J. Appl. Phy